sports

The Wilson X Connected Football introduced earlier this year is now available for pre-order with shipping being scheduled to start September 8. Those who preorder the smart football will also receive a copy of Madden 17 for free, with versions being available for both the PS4 and Xbox One. The football contains Bluetooth connectivity and a bunch of sensors, and joins Wilson's existing Wilson X Connected Basketball.

These days, expensive headgear is becoming more and more common. There are two consumer virtual reality headsets, the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, available for prices of $600 and $800, respectively. That's already a steep buy, and it doesn't include the high-end gaming PC required to run the devices. But now here's Nike debuting a pair of sunglasses that cost a jaw-dropping $1,200. Are they capable of VR or augmented reality features? Nope. They're just sunglasses. Really, really expensive sunglasses.

Before this year’s football season kicks off, Sling TV will add both NFL Network and NFL RedZone to its livestreaming TV service. The company hasn’t announced whether these offerings will be available as standalone add-ons or in certain packages, though a statement from it suggests that NFL Network may be more readily available while RedZone will be a separate option for subscribers.

Having been at a large number of international events where photography was involved, I can tell you - when you need help, it's very, very nice to have help. Canon has announced that they've brought their service and support crew (Canon Professional Services) to Brazil to assist with photographers' professional imaging equipment. They'll be repairing equipment, providing technical support, and loaning out big professional camera and gigantic zoom lenses, as well.

Olympics fans looking forward to the 2016 Summer Games in Rio take note: the BBC has announced it's launching a service that will allow viewers to watch a large portion of the event in 360-degree video. And you don't need an expensive VR headset like the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive either; any unit compatible with an iPhone or Android device will suffice, giving you the opportunity to watch as many as 100 hours of sports coverage as if you were there.

Soccer, or football depending on where you live in the world, is a big deal for huge numbers of fans around the world. The catch is that fans of Premiere League soccer matches inside the US and some other countries have very little access to these games. That is changing with Facebook getting into the live streaming realm for Premiere League matches.

IOFIT, a Samsung spinoff, has launched its previously unveiled smart golf shoes, doing so on Kickstarter where it aims to raise $30,000 in funds. The shoes, as we’ve detailed in the past, use smart technology to determine the force put on specific parts of the soles, as well as the overall balance of the golfer who is wearing them. This data is available on a mobile device like a smartphone or tablet, allowing the player to immediately see their own data, compare it to the data of other golfers, and more.

A skydiving world record was set in the California desert on Saturday as Luke Aikins became the first person ever to jump 25,000 feet without the use of a parachute, landing in a net positioned on the ground instead. The 42-year-old, with over 18,000 previous jumps under his belt, experienced two minutes of free-fall before landing in a net measuring 100-by-100 feet suspended with four 200 feet tall cranes.

Twitter has announced a new deal that’s good news for hockey and baseball fans — starting soon, the social network will livestream out-of-market NHL and MLB games, while a new show from 120 Sports called ‘The Rally’ will stream as an exclusive nightly show for highlights. According to Twitter, this new deal is made possible through its partnership with MLBAM; anyone in the United States will be able to watch the livestreamed games, including those who aren’t logged into a Twitter account.

PlayStation Vue is adding a couple new sports options for football fans: NFL RedZone and NFL Network. Sony announced the two upcoming channels in a statement today, saying they will be made available to subscribers nationwide soon. It isn’t clear what channel tier the channels will be made available under, or whether it will be made available as an add-on channel option. There will also be a couple perks for subscribers, including access to Watch NFL Network on the NFL’s website.

Golf carts are now officially old news thanks to professional golfer Bubba Watson and his newly showcased jetpack. It's a legit strap-yourself-inside-it-and-hold-on jetpack, only designed for whizzing around a golf course rather than battling fires or dealing with super villains. It's bizarre upon first glance, but entirely practical if you're crunched for time; while a golf cart has to drive around water traps, a jetpack can merely zoom above them, no detour necessary.

The NFL is planning to add data-gathering hardware to footballs used in this year’s preseason, according to a source, doing so to learn certain things about gameplay. The data gathered will help shed light on areas like kicking and officiating, and could be used to make changes to the game that’ll be seen as early as next year, at least according to reports.